Black Creek Labs waiting for Grendel Production

[JCart]

So my Son bought a BCL Bison MRX Ranger 16” barrel in 5.56. Really nice compact well fitted and finished bolt gun. Comes in 5.56, 300 Blackout and 7.62x39 currently. Sent out an E-mail to BCL asking if they would be produced in 6.5 Grendel. They said 2023… hope that’s the case as I’d pick one up for sure! Currently barrel lengths are 12.5” and 16” in the Bison MRX models. Nice snug bolt action, with precision fit and finish for a chassis gun. Be really nice in 6.5 Grendel! https://blackcreeklabs.com/portfolio_page/bison/
Cheers
J

[1Merlin]

I didn't see a price anywhere...?

[JCart]

@1merlin, seen them (not many) in Canada for about $1,000.00 Canadian Dollars.

[1Merlin]

Thanks JCart. How does the action compare to a Howa Mini?

[JCart]

1Merlin, I’ve never picked up a Howa mini so in terms of fit finish and feel sorry. Compared to a Ruger American Ranch 6.5 Grendel it feels as handy, much stiffer solid feel, due to chassis design of course, trigger is excellent, crisp no take up, breaks clean… really nice and is adjustable too. Bolt slides beautifully snug fit as it runs to locking… unlike the wobbly RAR that’s pretty sloppy brutally rough (I polished mine with abrasive paste) made a significant improvement. True tupperware plastic stocked gun and landed in Canada for not much less than the Bison MRX Ranger. Length of pull on Bison is adjustable too which is really nice. Pistol grip is plastic but can be changed to a rubber/synthetic is you want. Only downside possibly it that the Bison could be cool to handle in cold weather due to aluminum chassis. If there was one available now I’d purchase for sure. Be interested to see how the 12.5” barrel would do, love to have one as a compact UTV rig. That’s why I bought the RAR, compact doesn’t matter if it gets a bit of mud and dust on it or scratches on the plastic stock.
Cheers.[ATTACH=CONFIG]18791[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]18791[/ATTACH]

[1Merlin]

Hmmmm. Interesting for sure.

[myrifle]

Ar15 mags, short barrel and 1.5 moa at best?

I think I will pass on that, hope they sale a ton but not much use for well anybody but those who need a short range high mountain/rugged territory backpack gun. For the rest of us paper punching and doing mid range hunting/varminting its perrty useless.

[JCart]

Myrifle, the MOA does seem odd in todays market, remains to be seen on my Sons 5.56 and hopefully will be lowered with the Grendel. You are correct, 12.5” 16” barrels and they also make a Jackal in 19” barrel too. I feel the notion is to provide a bolt option that is more robust than plastic/wood stocked guns. In terms of performance of short barrelled rifles I’ve been very pleased with my RAR with tupper ware stock. 16.1” barrel with conservative loads to (guessing 2400 fps) 100 grain ELD-M and 100g Partitions typically provide <.6” 5 shot groups at 100m hand loads. Hopefully if BCL brings out a Grendel in Ranger it’ll provide similar or better performance. Least it’ll be another option for 6.5 Grendel bolt guns.
Cheers,
j

[Feral]

Thanks for posting about BCL's future plans, JCart.
Hope they chamber for the 6 ARC along with the 6.5 Grendel.

[Stinky Coyote]

nice find JCart, be one to follow, only concern I'm seeing is potentially very short reach to the trigger, Howa's in chassis do the same thing, didn't like that, tiny hands might be good with it, much happier with the reach from the ruger in mdt set-up, more options like this the better, swap in the ctr butt stock, looks like they could machine lots of fat out of the chassis also to get weight down...mdt learned quickly to do this as I showed them with my machinest on the first Lss we easily got 7.0 oz of their tiny chassis, now their gen 2 lss-xl weighs the same as the little gen 1 Lss did, their goal should be 6 lbs before optics imo...currently they aren't any lighter than ruger in mdt gen 2 Lss-xl, maybe they are a few oz lighter but that's about it

[JCart]

Hey Stinky, stock is collapsible, adjustable that’s a nice feature. You’re correct on the machining, the edges on the magazine and along bottom of for stock could have a wider (I.e., less sharp) radius on the angles. I’d also change out the hand grip for a rubber soft one rather the plastic it comes with. The magazine well seems pretty stout, almost too thick… however with increased radius edges It’d be better. Bolt and trigger are really nice, trigger is sharp, crisp, with no take up at all, or much after travel either. Really hope they are able to produce the 12.5” & 16” barrels in Grendel. Be an awesome rig. Will probably put an EC brake tuner on Son’s 5.56 once we can source some in Canada, rather then hand load for it. Also wanna try an EC tuner on my RAR 6.5 Grendel just for fun.
Cheers

[Stinky Coyote]

it's the distance from corner of your hand (thumb pit) to trigger that worries me most, until Howa in mdt chassis I had no idea that was a thing, for Howa in chassis only acceptable grips are the ergo rubber grips with the upturned rubber portion for your thumb pit to help get your hand back from the trigger so your trigger finger doesn't fully wrap around the trigger lol....Ruger/MDT combo is good, you can get away with regular square cut grips like the magpul moe-k grip which is what I use...but had to use the rubber ergo ones with thumb strap to try and make the Howa work....when I look at any of the new rigs now this is a gap I look for....back of grip to trigger, I had no idea how annoying it would be if this measure is too short and appears this will be too short on this new offering, lot of money to spend on building a new gun to miss a detail like this imo...sometimes you have to study images of Howa's, rugers, and the new guys to see what I mean. Having the trigger under the second knuckle joint in your finger is a no go. Would watch for this on the new cz600 trail as well, and any other would be chassis to come along trying to take advantage of AR accessories and be functional rigs etc.

and ya I had to show mdt early on where I filed down and rounded all the edges around the grip interface as well where one handed manipulation would reveal where the sharp edges were and where machining needed to step down to wards trigger opening etc., I'm a mod guy so have no problem breaking out grinders, files and drills and send it to machines and then re-cerakote when done...call all this the growing pains for chassis manufacturers trying to get in the game, MDT's are well sorted now...however the mdt on the Howa doesn't have the right gap to trigger reach...it's a Howa thing I think, but to build a new rifle set up and get this wrong is a big learning lesson, this bison looks like it needs about 1/2"-3/4" to move that grip back away from trigger imo

edit...so am I right? do you find the trigger reach better suited to very small hands? send it back and ask for the adult version?

[JCart]

Yes you are correct Stinky, hand grip is close never thought of it till you mentioned it. I’ve not shot it much and I just adjust my finger rest accordingly, not a huge deal for me. Although would be nice to have adjustable via grip change.

Interesting in that the bolt locked with a fired round in it last trip to the range and it wouldn’t fire consistently. Used a small hammer once home and tapped it open, round had blown a hole in primer.. weird as they were factory loads. Anyways Son explained situation to Black Creek Labs and they sent out parts, we received the next day, wicked service! Basically all the parts to rebuild the bolt, including heavier spring, firing pin assembly, even a new bolt handle… no cost and immediate response on phone call, very impressed!!
j

[Stinky Coyote]

thanks for confirmation JCart, trigger reach is going to be a thing in the chassis game, I do believe there are some adjustable grips available and some bulkier options that will help mitigate the munchkin reach